Editors Q&A

England's latest musical export, Editors, aren't as new as they would lead you to believe. The group, which has been around since 2002, dropped their debut album, The Back Room, back in 2005. True to form, however, it took almost a year for the album to make its way to the States. Needless to say, the group's blend of atmospheric pop has won them fans both in their homeland and abroad.

We caught up with bassist Russell Leetch to discuss the nuances of the band, their music, and other miscellany.

IGN Music: The Back Room is an intriguing title. Who came up with it, and what is the back room?

Russell Leetch: The title is taken from the song "Camera." It is the song that is central to the album and contains the lyrics 'the back room'. The Back Room is a conceptual phrase. It is a space where you can hide away thoughts, keep secrets and is your place to escape from everyday tediousness.

IGN Music: I noticed that you all met at Staffordshire University, and formed the band after graduating. Did the four of you play in different bands, either together or separately, at University?

Russell Leetch: Our band grew out of our friendship whilst we were at that university. We were in other bands before university but nothing we ever took seriously.

IGN Music: So many bands from England seem to have all the members coming from the same town, but all four of you are originally from different parts of the country. How has that shaped the way you create music together?

Russell Leetch: I think it must at times. Tom and Chris live in the countryside whilst myself and Ed live in towns. I think your surroundings are always going to affect you. We wrote 'The Back Room' whilst living in Birmingham, it's a sprawling, big grey city and that definitely suited our music.

IGN Music: You have such a rich and complex sound. How quickly did it all come together?

Russell Leetch: It was a very natural, organic process. We never sat down and said that we were going to sound like this and that. We were always fond of many bands when growing up and the way that we wrote music was an accumulation of our love of many bands, the way they scope songs and the way they build songs.

IGN Music: Despite some similarities, you guys have mentioned that your sound wasn't really influenced by Echo & The Bunnymen and Joy Division. Who where some of the bands that you listened to growing up?